Hospitality on Mission: An Interview with Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

Authors on the Line

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield shared her unlikely conversion story with us on the previous Authors on the Line podcast. We might have expected a Pauline conversion experience — perhaps a flash of light from heaven or an audible voice — but nothing of the sort happened. Rather, her conversion came through a series of ordinary means: a caring pastor in the area, a Bible, a copy of Calvin’s Institutes, and simple hospitality.

In this episode, we explore the role hospitality played in her conversion, and why she’s now challenging Christians to rethink the missional potential of our living rooms and dining rooms.

“It does not matter that there’s cat hair on the couch,” she says in the interview. “It does not matter that all you can serve right now is macaroni and cheese or cereal. It absolutely does not matter.” Why not? Because these small details fade to insignificance compared to the tremendous potential of hospitality on mission.

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield is a former tenured professor of English at Syracuse University. After her conversion to Christianity in 1999, she developed a ministry to college students. She has taught and ministered at Geneva College, is a full-time mother and pastor’s wife, and is author of Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.

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